Powerful Earthquake Causes Killer Tsunami in the Solomon Islands

A tsunami has hit the South Pacific  nation of the Solomon Islands after a powerful earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale struck the nearby Santa Cruz Islands.

The quake struck early Tuesday at a very shallow depth of only five km (three miles) and was located 340 km (211 miles) east of Kira Kira in the Solomons, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said. Initially, tsunami alerts and warnings were issued for a wide swathe of the South Pacific following the major temblor, with the countries of Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia also placed under the alert as a precautionary measure.

News sources from the Solomon's are stating that a tsunami measuring approximately .09 meters struck the island shortly after the earthquake occurred. The tsunami has devastated the town of Lata, where hundreds of homes were washed away. At present, five deaths have been reported, but many people are still listed as missing. Essential services such as water and electricity have been cut to the islands due to the earthquake and tsunami.

Officials with the government have stated that there is news of several ships with significant crews being swept out to sea by the destructive surge of the tsunami. Powerful aftershocks continue to be recorded following the earthquake, and areas of Lata township are still partially underwater as the surge waters have been slow to recede.

Today's catastrophe comes only six years after the devastating earthquake and tsunami combination that hit the region in 2007. The 8.1 earthquake triggered a significantly larger tsunami which measured at least ten feet. That event left 52 people dead and thousands of citizens homeless.

Exodus: Entire Pacific Nation Faces Relocation Due to Rising Ocean Levels

A small, South Pacific nation is facing the very real possibility of having to relocate all of its citizens in response to rapidly rising sea levels.

The Republic of Kiribati, a nation comprised of 32 tiny atolls as well as a raised coral island, is facing the tragic Exodus as the Pacific Ocean has already begun to encroach many of the nation's atolls. The sea  level has already risen substantially over the past several years, and has reached several of the villages dotted along the string of islands.

The President of Kiribati, Anote Tong, announced yesterday that he is in emergency meetings with the neighboring nation of Fiji to purchase up to 5000 acres of land that would be designated for the population of the island to relocate.

The diaspora of the nearly 113,000 residents of Kiribati would be a logistical nightmare and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The President stated that skilled workers would be sent first to the relocation center in Fiji on the island of Vanua Levu, where they would help with the construction of homes for the rest of the population to arrive at a later date.

Tong has been very vocal about the plight of his country's inhabitants, addressing the United Nations about the possibility of his homeland being underwater during the course of the next several decades. A plan was originally drawn up to move the citizens to several man-made islands, built similar to large oil rigs, but the idea was dismissed as being too costly and risky.

The diaspora would be the largest forced migration of a large group of people due to dramatic climate change for many decades. Formerly known as the Gilbert Islands, the country won independence from the United Kingdom in 1979. Queen Elizabeth ll and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visited the island of Kiribati during their tour of the South Pacific in October, 1982.